Dynamic webpages, such as those utilizing AJAX or Flash technologies, have become prevalent ways of improving user interaction by delivering content responsive to a user's activity within a website. Dynamic webpages further enable content to be automatically changed within the display of the page itself, without requiring the user to go to a separate page or refresh the current view of the page. For example, after an action button or pull down is interacted with on a webpage, an object within the page (such as an error or success message field) may be configured to change its text and display different content. One problem with the use of such technologies, however, is that sightless users who wish to utilize webpages with dynamic content are limited by the capabilities in existing screen reader software to read the updated content.
Screen readers relate the content on webpages to visually impaired users by reading webpage text in a linear, top-to-bottom fashion, outputting this content as audio to the user. Screen readers currently in use, however, have no way of alerting the user to dynamic content that has changed a portion of the webpage that is not currently being read. Thus, a sightless user who is using a screen reader will often have to restart reading all of the content from the top of the webpage to discover what changed, as there is no easy way to determine if dynamic content in the page has been updated once the screen reader has passed the change point.
Current screen reader technology, at most, is capable of alerting the user that something on the page has changed, but is not capable of relaying what this change is, and where on the page the change has occurred. Thus, many dynamic content changes introduced into the webpage are not communicated with the user via the screen reader, which may prevent numerous information and functional fields from being used and understood by visually impaired users.
Various regulations such as Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act are also relevant to the capabilities and deployment of accessibility technology used by visually impaired users. Section 508 sets forth requirements intended to increase technology accessibility, to ensure government employees with disabilities can fully access and interact with relevant content. Additionally, Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act requires that manufacturers of telecommunications equipment and software ensure that the equipment is accessible by persons with disabilities, whether provided directly or through a peripheral device used by the person with a disability. Further, the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, programs, and services provided by state and local governments—including goods and services provided by private companies.
Certain website accessibility coding practices such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) have been mandated through the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). At a minimum, a complete implementation of the WCAG enables the Section 508 and Section 225 guidelines to be met or exceeded. Additionally, W3C has created sets of checklists defined in the WCAG as a guide for software and websites to be considered accessible. These guidelines are intended to ensure that all webpages are rendered to accessibility users in a perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust way.
Although these various accessibility requirements and regulations are in place, there is no existing technology that has readily enabled users of screen readers or other software assistance programs to fully utilize dynamic web functionality and easily comply with accessibility standards. To be considered accessible, either a command line based interface or text-based alternative must be provided to allow the user to interact with a dynamic web environment. Although command line or text only versions may provide a basic user interface to make a webpage content accessible, they often do not provide the robust capabilities inherent to time sensitive actions that dynamic web content is most capable of delivering and responding to.
The only complete workaround to the limitations produced by screen readers is for the sightless user to not access dynamic webpages, but this is often not a feasible solution due to the wide deployment and usefulness of dynamic web content throughout the Internet. Thus, the only complete workaround for content providers is to provide separate text-only versions of the webpages in lieu of delivering dynamic content.
As dynamic web technologies are being increasingly deployed throughout the Internet, there is a large concern that the features of assistive technologies for sightless users lack equivalent progress. What is needed are improved ways of delivering of dynamic web content for visually impaired users via use of screen reader technologies that are used to read websites. Additionally, various server side technologies need to be tailored to deliver dynamic content in a more predictable manner. Techniques are needed within dynamic web sites to determine if the user requires special needs or processing, in addition to tracking the positioning of the screen area being read in order to automatically assist special needs readers with the correct placement, alert, and delivery of dynamic content.